The Magus Guardian
by Uraharaisgod
Summary: Two uneventful years have passed since Aizen's defeat, and Ichigo has moved on in life, now attending the Fuyuki City University on a Medicine course. Little does he know that strange mark that appeared on his hand is the sign of another war on the Horizon, once again he must take up his blade to protect, except this time he's not alone in his battle.
1. Chapter 1

**Yo, hello guys. I was just about to get started on my next chapter for Magus on Campus, but this strange idea wouldn't get out of my head. As such, in order to assuage my mind so I can focus, I wrote this intro chapter down for a new story, dunno if I will continue it or not. As you no doubt guessed from the tags, its a Ichigo/Saber story, the story based entirely in Fuyuki City and currently starring Ichigo only amongst the Bleach Cast. Now, this is a crossover so obviously AU, and theres a few things different from canon.**

**1. The Fullbringer Arc never occured**

**2. The Quincy Arc hasn't occured**

**As such, this is set 2 years after Aizen's defeat, and Ichigo has moved on in life, with an unexpected development that happened in place of the Fullbringer Arc. For Nasuverse Rules sticklers, this proably wont be for you, as it runs off the premise that Reiatsu and Prana can follow the same rules, and one can be a substitute for the other. Ichigo in a sense is a Magus in this storyline, but only because the way he channels his powers in Human Form is the same as a Magus (Magic Circuits, although he's not fully aware of this) and his new core skill is Kido until he regains his Shinigami Form. He still has his superhuman reflexes though, so he's still close range primarily even as a human, but Kido is there as well.**

**Finally, just like in Magus on Campus, I am keeping Shirou along for the story, he will recieve a different Servant than Saber (either a Rider, an Assasin or a Caster, the other three are their canon counterparts Cu Chullain, EMIYA and Herakles, but Shirou will recieve a different named Servant, who i'm uncertain as of yet.)**

**Read if you want, I'm just putting this out to get it out of my head, if the idea is liked I may keep it.**

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_I ask of you, are you my Master?_

Kurosaki Ichigo: 18 years old

Hair colour: Orange

Occupation: University Student (Fuyuki City University/Medicine)/Ex-Substitute Shinigami

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Ichigo groaned incoherently as once again the easily most annoying noise ever created by mankind blared from the bedside table, once again announcing the start of the day for the ex-Substitute Shinigami. The sunlight peeked through the window, causing him to blink blearily even as he groped about blindly for that damn alarm clock, anything to shut it up. However, the clock somehow eluded his grasp, continuing its obnoxious blaring.

'Damn it….' Was the only coherent thought in his head as he shifted in his bed to find the clock, the annoying contraption almost glowing maniacally back at him as its display changed to 7:01, the alarm cranking up higher in volume in response to not being turned off. That was quickly halted as a hand slammed down on top of the off switch, finally shutting the noise off.

Normally, he would have been awake pretty fast after that, knowledge that the errant goat-chin could be bursting through the door/window/wall/ceiling at any moment to enact his usual wake up ritual forcing his body into action, but after two months of living alone in this tiny flat, it seemed his body was starting to remember that he originally wasn't a morning person and now was taking its chances to just remain in that hazy half sleep mode.

'C'mon, gotta get up….'

Finally rising from his bed, he ran his right hand through his orange spiky locks, now extending down far enough to almost be touching his shoulders (Yuzu had cried out in dismay the last time he openly considered getting it cut in front of her, and there was no force on this planet strong enough to withstand her *puppy dog eyes* technique, thus the long hair stayed). His eyes fell to the back of his left hand, glaring once again at those marks that had appeared halfway through his last year at Karakura High, a skull over two crossed bars, surrounded by a pentagon, the sigil of the Substitute Shinigami. For some reason over the last two days it had been getting very sore, and for the life of him he couldn't quite figure out why, he was almost concerned enough to perhaps call Urahara and ask his advice on it.

_Almost_

That sigil now emblazoned on his hand was the sign of his powers, that he was finally capable of regaining his powers (1). It had appeared that day eight months ago, after that near disastrous incident brought on by the climax of his anger at himself at his weakness and his inability to regain his powers. He had unknowingly done something incredibly stupid, nearly killed himself in the process, but this mark was somehow the end result, alongside a tiny spark of reiatsu, _Shinigami_ reiatsu.

Urahara had come up with so many half assed theories as to why it was his badge had contained so much of his old reiatsu, and how exactly that power had been released when he broke the badge, but no matter how many theories he had come up with, even he was flummoxed at the sigil that had materialised on the back of Ichigo's hand like a wound, blood streaming as though he had taken a knife and gauged his own hand open. Still, all the half assed theories in the world meant nothing behind the simple knowledge.

Even if it was only a shard that his human body had absorbed, a tiny spark of that once almighty inferno, Ichigo had regained some of his power, and that was all that mattered to the ex-Shinigami.

'Still, it's taking so damn long to return….' Ichigo grumbled as he focused inwards, once again trying to sense that spark. It could no longer be called a spark, the training Urahara had suggested he attempt once they had confirmed his soul was readily producing the reiatsu now; almost a spiritual of physiotherapy had caused that tiny spark to become a small fire.

But it was still so weak, he was weaker than he could ever remember being, even less than the first night he had become a Shinigami. Still, it had meant that he could finally learn the control that he had never been able to enact on his power, and it was for that reason Urahara had generously given him that old tome.

"Well…" Ichigo started, clapping his hands together as he stretched his arms out. "….might as start…."

Inside his mind he pictured himself falling into the well of darkness, the mental suggestion Ganju had once taught him to focus his powers. As he finished, he grabbed the small orb on his bedside desk, located handily beside the clock, and focused on channelling his reiatsu towards it.

Once again, he felt that heat arise inside his body, almost like his nerves were heating up from friction as he channelled his reiatsu from his soul throughout his physical body and towards the orb he held, the orb starting to shine brightly as it consumed his power greedily.

That was another surprise change; somehow, his human body had become capable of controlling and channelling Shinigami reiatsu, something that had completely eluded him before. Before, he could do nothing about the Reiatsu that he *leaked*, but now it seemed his Reiatsu was flowing differently, perhaps because it simply wasn't strong or fierce enough to blast out like it once did, he had no idea.

After a couple of tests run by Urahara, the theory he came up with was somehow he was channelling Reiatsu through a small selective network of nerves that crossed his body.

'Circuits, he called it….' Ichigo thought, frowning once again as he ran the unfamiliar word through his head. Just why had Urahara insisted on using an English term? Once again, it seemed the shopkeeper knew something he wasn't willing to share, and had feigned ignorance on the matter. Not like Ichigo could pressure him, Urahara was already doing him a favour by giving him the advice necessary to start on developing his power back to how it once was, and trying to perhaps find a way to restore his shinigami form…he didn't want a repeat of THAT again, he had already died enough times during his one *life*. As such, until his powers returned more, actually using his Shinigami form was out of the question.

As such, he utilised the orb each second morning to draw away his Reiatsu fully. He didn't understand how it worked, nor really cared, but by doing so, not only did it keep his reiatsu low enough not to attract Hollow attention, but just like how a muscle grows stronger through effort, this was designed to speed up the growth of his powers.

It was this, and the practice of various different Kido and healing spells from the tome before he went to sleep that he used to learn control of his new much weaker reiatsu (mostly unsuccessful, he finally understood Renji's pain when it came to that Shakkaho spell, the only results he could get from it was either weaker than Kanonji's favourite technique, or for it to just straight out blow up in his face, he had already been forced to take the batteries from the smoke alarms due to the sheer amount of times he kept setting it off.)

One of the things Urahara had advised him to do was utilise this until his powers had returned to the point that he broke the orb when he channelled his power through it. If he could manage that, then he could move onto trying to use his Shinigami Form outside of his human body

Ichigo had been using this method non-stop to return his powers, but even now he couldn't help but frown as he felt his reiatsu start to peter out, the orb dimming as the flow went down. He hadn't even managed to put a crack in the orb yet, so the day was still pretty far off when he could finally return to being the protector he wanted to be.

Muttering as the flow finally cut out, the orb losing the glow of its light as the last of his reiatsu vanished, Ichigo yawned one last time for good measure, then headed in the direction of the shower. It was time to get on with the day.

"What the hell, again?!" was the words growled to the wind by old Kensuke Shigumo, one of the half dozen 20th Seat Shinigami of the 13th Division as he finally stopped atop a nearby lampshade. He had thought he'd detected a slight amount of Reiatsu within the area for what easily must have been the 50th time already since he had been assigned to this district, but due to his crappy sensing skills, not once had he managed to figure out its exact location after all this time.

Kensuke was considered both rather odd and going half senile in his old age amongst his fellow Shinigami, thus when it came to his rotation for Real World duties, he had been assigned to Fuyuki City, widely considered in terms of spiritual activity the quietest place in all of Japan with an average appearance of Hollows barely reaching one every few months. Compared to the spiritual hotspot that was Karakura Town, this was a nice and safe district, it barely even needed patrolling, thus a good place to send an incredibly incompetent Shinigami. (2)

But ever since he had arrived, he *thought* he had been sensing odd reiatsu fluctuations within the town, minute for the most part, it was only the more recent ones that he had started to realise there may have been something up. Protocol stated that he should have called this in to Soul Society, but there had been no communications of Hollow Activity from the labs, so whatever it was had to be amongst the human populace. As such, the stubborn part of him refused to do so until he had visual confirmation something was up, thus he had spent the last month jumping up and down all of Fuyuki City trying to track the culprits down with no such luck, and this morning was just yet another in the long list of screw ups.

Growling to himself again after having lost the signal he had been trying to follow, Kensuke turned to go back to that old warehouse he had taken residence in….

Only to have his senses almost metaphysically seared by the sheer reiatsu of the man in blue now standing on the opposite street's lamp-post, eying him contemplatively with blood red eyes even as his smile widened into an almost feral grin, sending shivers of fear down the old man's back.

"Black robes…check, Katana…check." the man in blue said to himself even as Kensuke leapt off the lamp post, moving towards the nearby roof where he would be better able to fight if this…thing…was as dangerous entity as his gut instincts told him, drawing his sword mid jump before he even landed.

"Can see me even in spiritual form…yup, you're the one! Sorry, but for the sake of this War…"

Even as the Shinigami landed, he spun about in fear. Somehow despite having jumped first, the man in blue had beaten him to his destination with absolute ease. He knew there and then he couldn't win, and judging from the killing intent leaking from his foe, he was about to die. Kensuke quickly reached into his robes, desperately trying to grab the Denreishinki (Divine Messenger Machine), maybe to contact Soul Society and request for assistance, maybe to report this dangerous entity so nobody else would suffer his fate, hell maybe to find out if this thing before him was a Hollow.

I guess we'll never know, he didn't even manage to grab the device before the cursed spear lanced out, piercing through his chest with a grisly crunch and destroying his heart immediately.

"You're going to have to die."

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**Well, thats that, its officially out of my head now!**

**I know there is no university in Fuyuki City, but for the sake of Ichigo having a reason to be there, it is there. I may include other cast members later, but not right now, Ichigo is keeping his returning powers on the quiet side until he is strong enough to return to his Shinigami Form (which he can't do now despite how much reiatsu he has because his souls form is highly unstable). As such, Soul Society is entirely unaware his powers are returning, just that he has seemingly moved on in life.**

**Again, if this seems liked, I may continue, dunno. For now, i'll just get back to Magus on Campus, cya!**

**(1) He thinks...**

**(2) Soul Society thinks...Soul Society has for the whole been rather negligant of real world events, as such they are unaware of the Holy Grail War, nor the existence of Servants (the Throne of Heroes is independant of Soul Society). However, Shinigami and Magus are aware of each others existence to a certain extent, if I continue the story I will explain more indepth later XP**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I am quite honestly surprised this recieved attention, I've never really had any luck with Bleach-centric stories and expected this to be ignored, very surprised to get 20+ Reviews in just 2000 words 0.0.**

**Surprised enough I decided to write a little more. Doesn't really feel like my best job, and most likely plenty of Nasuverse breaking goin on but oh well.**

**Okay, if you just want to read without the context of any future work on this story, skip to the non block writing**

**Okay, first off, Ichigo's abilities will be shown in this chapter. Just like in canon, he has super speed perception born of his time as a Shinigami. What I've modified is just how well it works.**

**Ichigo's perception does not slow to the rate given, rather his reaction is damn near automatic to anything he sees, its so fast that it will be mistaken as reflex or instincts to nearly all who see it. Whats more, this speed is the same as his Transcendental state, meaning...and don't go nuts Nasuverse fans...**

**Ichigo's perception speed outclasses Servants, by a longshot. He's on the same level as a Counter Guardian under the Counter Force in this one aspect.**

**Now, before anybody burns the books, this doesn't mean he is that fast physically. His movement is limited by his body, both human and shinigami, even if he percieves and reacts, his body will still move at normal speeds. For example (overdramatized) If a man comes out of nowhere, just materialises and fires a gun instantly, with the bullet certain to hit his heart, he will see the gunshot, be able to read its trajectory, see it hits him in the heart and he will instantly start to move to get out of the way, all before the bullet actually leaves the chamber. However, the bullet is still faster than he is by a longshot, but because of his ability, he will have avoided the bullet hitting his heart, but only by about a centimetre in any direction.**

**Make sense? He is damn near transcendental in reactions, but limited by body.**

**Secondly, this is a change from Bleach cannon. Ichigo killed Aizen with Mugetsu, he has taken a life of another humanic being. While this won't be a key detail, and Ichigo has little to no angst over doing the deed, this will change charecter interaction, some of the things Ichigo will say and do may go a bit OOC, and certain experienced charecters, warriors and killers, will be able to identify him as such by how he looks and acts.**

**Oh, finally, and this is for people who haven't read my work before. I write things as very P.O.V centric, and many times charecters will come up with incorrect theories about situations, no one charecter knows everything for certain. As such, if things seem wrong, go with the flow unless you see a glaring mistake.**

**EDIT: Whoops, forgot to Block the A/N's, I only do this so the guys who want to read only know where to skip straight to the story XP**

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"How many more steps…" Ichigo grunted with annoyance as he kept climbing the stairway cut into the side of the mountain, once again annoyed with just how long this walk took. He could understand that the stairway had been built this way with some mysterious spiritual meaning to the climb to reach the temple, but he could never get behind why it had to be THIS LONG!

It wasn't like the trip was tiring, daresay it was good exercise for the body overall going both up and down this stairway from civilization to holy grounds, but it just took so long…

Still, as the arch that finally signified the end of his trek up the mountain finally came into view, he knew that this god awful long trek was just a necessary evil for what he wanted to achieve.

As he finally passed the arch, the ground opening up to reveal the simple splendour of the Ryoudouji, he once again felt that slight uplift in the air, his body reacting as his soul, tired from the exhaustion of having its Reiatsu used up earlier that morning, responded to the sudden increase in the concentration of Reishi in the air. Once more, he couldn't help but feel relaxed in the presence of this simple temple as he stood at what he understood to be the heart of the spiritual grounds of Fuyuki City, the core part of him that was Shinigami reacting positively to the almost glow of power around the temple.

His near constant frown relaxing subconsciously, Ichigo tucked his hands into his pockets as he strolled towards the temple complex, glancing around at the few visitors meandering about and the monks hard at work. As some of the monks noticed his glances, a few stopped to smile welcomingly back at the young man, prompting Ichigo to wave back at the hardworking men.

To the monks at the temple, Ichigo had become an almost regular visitor to the temple over the last two months since he came to Fuyuki City, and nearly every man on the grounds had heard about the brightly haired teen by now. After all, he was a kind of…unique visitor…

Ichigo's glances finally found the man he was after, or more accurately as his target suddenly grinned, turning to jog in Ichigo's direction, his target found him.

"Kurosaki! How are you doing, it's been ages!" the tall newcomer said a bit too loudly for Ichigo's liking as he closed the gap, a rather large man dressed not as the monks of the temple but oddly enough in a dark blue Gi, strong muscles showing his rather obvious martial arts training as the big man raised his hand and slapped Ichigo heartily on the shoulder, getting a loud and surprised cough of air from the teen.

"Well, you'd probably see me more if you spent less time in the hospital!" Ichigo responded after he recovered with a wry smirk of his own, earning a hurt expression as the man theatrically grabbed at his heart in pain. "Lemme guess, no luck this time either huh?"

"Or the five dozen times before, I guess her old man just doesn't like me for some reason, can't think of a reason why!" the man responded with a far too chipper tone considering they were discussing the numerous times he had ended up in hospital.

"Well, perhaps you still need to toughen up some more if a few Yakuza keep getting you so easily, Reikan." (1) Ichigo replied, not even trying to suppress the friendly smirk that broke across his face at the older man's words.

"But Kurosaki, I can't go beating up her father's men, she'd hate me if I did! What's a man to do!" Reikan lamented as he punched his other hand in faked frustration. "Every time I try to ask her out, they somehow catch wind of it and all gang up on me! I could probably beat them, but then what?! Old Raiga would just get even angrier with me if I beat up his men!"

"And you think just toughing it out is going to get you anywhere? Grow a spine Reikan, I thought you were tougher than that." Ichigo jabbed back, aiming to goad the big man on.

As the big man's eyes narrowed down challengingly at Ichigo's tone, Ichigo took a few steps back, dropping his bag on the ground as he prepared for what he knew was going to come next, his smirk widening again as he faced the bigger man. Across the grounds, several of the monks shook their heads in exasperation, one or two of the newer initiates suddenly excited as they started to watch the oncoming fight.

This was practically a ritual that had started between the two about a week after Ichigo had first stepped foot into the temple. Due to Reikan's outwardly friendly nature, he had practically forced his camaraderie upon Ichigo when they had first met and both had become stalwart friends almost instantly. However, upon Ichigo accidentally letting slip in conversation about having learnt Karate, Reikan had taken it upon himself to try and fight Ichigo any time and any place they met, and since he was actually a seriously good Martial Artist, Ichigo had actually started to find some enjoyment in these skirmishes.

Sometimes it was Ichigo who prompted the fight, sometimes it was Reikan, but nearly every time these two *friends* met, it was guaranteed a fight would break out somehow. Even now, one or two of the older, more resigned monks carefully started to edge the more fragile stone carvings a bit further away, in the hopes that the ensuing brawl didn't get close enough to damage them.

As the big man turned to face Ichigo, his face also broke out to a full on grin as he took a basic Judo stance, asking "First to surrender?"

"First to three moves." Ichigo countered as he took his own stance, a rather relaxed pose that was slightly reminiscent of the Karate that he once trained in.

For Ichigo, this was his way to pass the time he spent at the temple accelerating the regeneration of his depleted reiatsu reserves rather than meditating, which he knew he sucked horribly at. It was also a brilliant chance to relearn how to fight properly, it had been years since he had been fighting anything above street thugs using fists, and he knew his skills were shot to hell, especially since he was more used to swinging massive cleavers rather than fist fighting. Reikan was a 6th Dan Black Belt in Judo, and in terms of skill, light years beyond Ichigo's rather rusty style, which even at its best was only 1st Dan Black Belt, measured when he was nine.

For Reikan, this was his chance to spar with someone on Ichigo's level. While Ichigo's skills in martial arts looked sub-par due to how incredibly rusty he was, out of the two of them Ichigo still had by far the greater lead in victories. This was because Ichigo had instinct.

And when Reikan thought instinct, he meant INSTINCT. Ichigo was a beast in that one area, he had never seen another fighter with so much natural fighting talent as Ichigo had. Ichigo didn't need form, didn't need skill, he was just so good that Reikan doubted he had ever faced a foe capable of making him NEED it. (Of course, it never occurred to Reikan that perhaps Ichigo just had so much experience fighting on levels that surpassed human imagination that his reflexes were that fast).

Besides, it made a nice break from having the floor mopped with his face by HIM…

Speak of the devil and he will arrive, as Ichigo and Reikan squared off for yet another bout of painful yet friendly fighting, a tall man dressed in a suit finished the walk up the temple steps, arriving after a long day of teaching at Homurahara Gakuen, only to see this spectacle in the middle of the grounds, his usual sparring partner squared off against that seeming delinquent teen that had started turning up at the temple frequently during the past few months.

Kuzuki Soichirou had heard about this teens frequent spars with Reikan a few times, but due to often having to stay late at the academy, had yet been witness to the spectacle. Normally, he wouldn't have cared about this, but something about the teens posture when he had seen him walking past on his way down the temple steps once before had instantly put Kuzuki's long dormant defensive instinct up, making him wary of the teenager, something in his eyes.

This orange haired teenager was a warrior, and had at some point, taken a life by his own hands.

The same instinct did tell him that the boy wasn't actively dangerous, just that this was what he once was. He felt the same kind of kinship in a way, as an assassin who had stepped away from his past of murder and killing. Even if he no longer actively took lives, from what he understood the act of killing changed any normal man, and never for the better.

As such, rather than go back to his room and ignore this little situation, Kuzuki stopped to watch, silently standing in the shadows without a presence to be detected. He wanted to know what this boy, no, man was.

As the two started their impromptu fight, it would look incredibly strange to an outsider, expert or amateur. Both Ichigo and Reikan were throwing direct attacks at one another, striking moves done at a strangely sedate pace at first. As Reikan tried to step closer into Ichigo's range, Ichigo struck back with kicks to force Reikan back, the older Judo user weaving in and out of range to try and close the gap, occasionally blocking or redirecting a particularly close attack, occasionally throwing his own strikes whenever Ichigo made a mistake in his attack, forcing Ichigo to abandon offensive lest he take a hit.

This wasn't an official match and there was no direct rules, as such even if he was using Judo, there was no restriction to using Body Striking Techniques for the Judo user. Hell, he would need them just to keep Ichigo off balance with guarding if he wanted a hope to close with the much faster teen.

This continued for a while, both men attacking and dancing out of range of their foe, Reikan slowly closing the gap as he used his own experience to keep up with Ichigo's much faster, even if slightly clumsy, offensive.

This kept up for about half a minute, the blows changing as the gap closed from purely kicks to direct arm strike attempts from Reikan, trying to get a proper grip on his foe, while Ichigo mixed in knees, punches and elbows, anything to try and catch the older fighter off guard. The closer they got, the faster both men moved in their attacks. Oddly enough, to the audience Reikan didn't seem to be making any attempt to do the traditional counter moves against Ichigo's attacks, completely denying the advantage his Martial Arts gave him for a completely unseeable reason.

At least to anybody but Kuzuki, who was watching Ichigo's movements with a strange intensity.

As Ichigo kicked again, Reikan guarded against the blow directly, forcing Ichigo's leg back. To Kuzuki's eyes, Reikan seemed to twitch, his arms moving as if to take advantage of this move as he should have against any other fighter. But even as Kuzuki noticed the twitch, Ichigo had already seen it, realised the intent and started moving to react. Ichigo's movement speed was very fast, but still well within an experienced fighters range, his body moving to commit to an elbow strike on the opposite side of Reikan's body that would have forced him to block in the opposite direction, making it impossible to counter-grab the first move without taking the hit.

But there was no way any human should have been able to read his foe's intentions that perfectly at the speed the two were moving at, even Kuzuki hadn't read the Black Belt Judo users intentions that clearly that fast. Sure, he had seen the twitch, and knew that in the teen's place, he would have countered and killed Reikan with the counter if he so chose, and in the end done it faster than the teen, but he would never have seen the movement as fast as the teen had, or started reacting anywhere near as fast, even with all of his training, even with all of the men he had killed.

It should have been impossible and only one who is used to doing the improbable but not the impossible would have known that.

Superhuman.

The orange teen had superhuman perception speeds, Kuzuki instantly decided. He didn't once question the validity of this; he knew it was true even if it was impossible. Nothing else about the teen surpassed human limits, but this one factor alone. To the teen, Kuzuki realised his foe must have seemed to be moving almost as slow as if he was in molasses, even though his foe was an extremely competent Martial Artist.

This was why Reikan wasn't countering, Ichigo wasn't letting him.

Ichigo's movements were clumsy, rusty and most of it was a waste of movement.

But at the same time he was perfect, nobody could ever hope to defeat this teen unless he let them.

Once again, that was impossible, but Kuzuki decided that unless one was also capable of superhuman feats, it would be impossible to defeat this teen if he decided to fight seriously. If he had been fighting the teen in Reikan's place, he knew he would lose as well.

Kuzuki was strong for a human, amazingly fast, had much more experience, knew how to kill a foe a hundred ways, and had a specifically engineered fighting style that was nearly impossible to read even by the greatest of Martial Arts masters. To the untrained foe, he may as well have been superhuman for the chances they had against him.

But he wasn't actually superhuman.

He would never be able to beat this teen unless he was superhuman as well, and even then it would be the hardest battle he had ever fought in his life.

And right now Ichigo was proving that. Up to now, four successful strikes had been made in the last five minutes (although Kuzuki was certain Ichigo had let Reikan land the two hits on him). For Ichigo; a rather simple, yet painful kick to Reikan's chest one minute in, and later on an elbow to his shoulder. Both rather amateurish moves, but successful.

For Reikan; a palm thrust to Ichigo's chest that had pierced the teens defence, and the subsequent drop when Reikan had followed through by grabbing Ichigo's shirt, dropping to his own knee and pulling Ichigo's leading heel when he had stumbled back toppled him to the ground, earning two hits. **(A/N see Kibisu-Gaeshi)**

Now with only one hit each left to go, Reikan had finally closed the gap again, and thanks to a badly made punch, had Ichigo's arm in his grasp. However, Reikan's stance had left his own leg wide open for a leg strike, which Ichigo tried to capitulate on to earn the final hit, even as Reikan tried to secure his grip for a throw by grabbing Ichigo's lapel with his other hand.

But it was a decoy, as Ichigo kicked at Reikan's leading leg, Reikan's stance suddenly swapped, putting all of his weight on his back leg instead as the big man finally let a victorious grin stretch across his features. Ichigo's attack missed as, rather than kicking the supporting leg out from under Reikan, the bigger man simply lifted his leg above the attack, before putting as much force as he could into his own retaliatory kick, sweeping towards the only leg Ichigo had still on the floor as he modified his grasp on Ichigo for the upcoming leg throw. **(A/N see Tsubame-Gaeshi, yes the real one XP)**

The moves were incredibly fast, and damn near perfection, Reikan was truly showing the skill that had earned him his 6th Dan Black Belt by using this incredibly difficult to pull off move, so much so even Kuzuki nodded slightly in appreciation of seeing this move, especially since he wasn't fighting a Judo user.

The next second passed and Reikan crashed onto the temple floor a metre back, holding his chest as he coughed painfully, Ichigo swinging back clumsily from his own improvised kick, his stance all hell from the awkward way he had to land the last attack, wincing guiltily as he realised he may have put a bit too much power behind his last kick.

"D-dammit *cough*, how did you get out of that?" Reikan coughed at as he winced up at Ichigo, now offering a hand to the martial artist. Ichigo just shrugged as Reikan clasped his hand, pulling the big man up with one heave as he said "Not sure, just a good guess?"

An exasperated sigh was heard from nearby as a up until now unnoticed bystander finally made himself known, a disapproving voice asking "Really brother, do you and your friend have to start fights in the middle of the temple, at the front gate? Couldn't you have picked anywhere else in the entire of Fuyuki City?"

Both Ichigo and Reikan simultaneously froze, before turning as one to look sheepishly in the direction of the voice both recognized. Sure enough, standing there with arms crossed, pushing his glasses up in a manner that badly reminded Ichigo of a certain stuck up prick, was Issei Ryuudou, Reiken's little, yet strangely much more mature acting brother.

Coincidentally, in another town, having just finished slaying an errant Hollow that had appeared close to his father's hospital, Uryuu Ishida felt a strange urge to curse a certain ginger haired idiot.

(Some time later)

Afterwards, Ichigo had ended up staying for a few hours, both him and Reikan just talking about random nonsense as Ichigo had done his usual volunteer work in helping out around the Temple with any manual labour work, which in the end only included helping Issei check the traditional ofuda setup around the temple, and helping the Monks with the replacement bell for the main room in the temple.

Once again sent on his way with gratitude from the monks for his work, Ichigo headed back down the stairway, feeling generally much better now he'd not only gotten to physically workout, but also have his Reiatsu restored much faster from his proximity to the temple. As he disappeared down the steps, Kuzuki emerged from the shadows where he had been observing the teen silently all day, and returned into the temple, his face its ever stoic and blank expression as he contemplated.

Returning to the room that he was given by the head monk, he blinked slowly as he opened the door, seeing the person sitting cross legged on the floor, staring at an object that looked like a crystal ball. As the shouji door fully opened with a clack, the person on the floor suddenly turned about with slight surprise, having obviously been focused entirely on the ball and not noticed his presence.

At first, what was visible of the persons face beneath the hood showed a tense expression, lips tensed thinly as a gloved hand shot up, before the mouth opened in surprise, the hand faltering from its almost clawed gesture and moving instead towards the hood as the expression changed into a beautiful smile, the hood pulled back to reveal long, flowing blue hair, pointed elfin ears and a surprisingly beautiful face as those eyes shone with obvious adoration at the stoic faced teacher.

"Soichirou-sama!"

Kuzuki's face didn't change at all at the woman's words, instead focusing past her at the crystal ball as he asked in his monotone voice;

"What are you doing, Caster?"

Caster seemed flinched with surprise, her eyes suddenly twitching to look at the crystal ball, the contents within in clear view of her new Master. Realising she had been caught since Soichirou could clearly see the image of a certain orange haired teen descending the steps of the temple within the ball, Caster fidgeted nervously, answering "Ah, I was just keeping an eye out for any potential chances of intruders, Soichirou-sama."

Kuzuki fixed his piercing, cold gaze on her, making her both tremble in anticipation and adoration at the man, yet fear that she may have upset him, her precious person. This man had been the one to find her, and give her a home, a purpose in this time and age, and was the first and only person to ever show her genuine kindness, dedication and unflinching loyalty. Even if he didn't seem capable of loving, she loved everything about this man, and would do anything to remain with him, no matter how evil or despicable, no matter how many she would have to hurt.

Anything.

Kuzuki held his piercing stare for another second, before simply asking "Is he a problem?"

Caster blinked those beautiful eyes in surprise, once again underestimating the man she loved. Those words were pure and simplistic, yet spoke his faith in her to an unlimited level. She knew what he was asking already, it was obvious.

Did she need him to kill the teen?

There wasn't even a hint of hesitation in the man, simply desiring to know what she wanted of him, almost like he was the Servant between the two of them. He wasn't being subservient; he just asked what it was she needed as if it was the most obvious thing on the planet, and she knew if she said yes, that person would be dead before she awoke tomorrow.

But that would be a complete waste.

"Ah, no…I was merely curious, he seems to have higher Prana reserves than average, but he doesn't seem to be a Magus, just another untrained, like that Ryuudou boy, Issei." Caster quickly spilled out, eager to hide her actual thoughts on the subject from Kuzuki.

At first, just like she explained, she thought the boy simply to be the same as the Monk's son, that Issei, just a human with higher than average latent magical reserves that had never been tapped into. However, after seeing that rather brutish little confrontation the teen had with the older brother of Issei (who had no magical talent she could detect, just an average human), she had been suspicious of the capacity the orange haired teen had shown for battle.

Most likely the boy was utilising his Prana reserves subconsciously to bolster his body's ability to fight. This wasn't unusual as humans with magical capacity often ended up utilising their powers in strange and surprising methods, even if they had no knowledge of it or knew they were capable of it. That Issei boy was the same, Caster was certain the boy could sense magical reserves within other people even if he didn't know it, which was why he was uncomfortable around her and being near her presence.

Due to her suspicions, she had eventually chosen to use a relatively unused branch of her magic, almost disgustingly alike that god awful atrocity they called *Modern Magecraft* (the barbarians) to cast a Biological Analysis on the teen. The fact that the boy's body hadn't even attempted to resist the magic made her feel as though her suspicion was off, until it revealed the truth

The simple spell she had cast on the boy had analysed the condition of his magical circuits as well as his reserves, and while the reserves truly did seem low, they oddly enough seemed to be increasing in proximity to the temple, almost like he was subconsciously accessing the Ley Lines without any mage craft intervention of his own, a very unusual mutation in a human.

It wasn't a useful ability, as accessing Mana in your surroundings was almost the bread and butter of Magecraft, as easy as living and breathing to any 3rd Rate Magus, even these modern day shams. However, seeing it manifest in an untrained human was rather strange.

But it wasn't that which had Caster amazed when the results came in from the Magecraft she used, oh no. It was the sheer capacity of his circuits!

It was unbelievable, the boy possessed only a meagre 20 circuits, which from her understanding of the knowledge imparted by the Grail was around the average for a modern day first generation Magus (coincidentally, the same number as the first fool who dared to believe himself her Master). However, each singular circuit that boy possessed would have surpassed the combined output of her original Master's twenty, plus the ten contained within his pitiful Magic Crest!

In other words, the boy's 20 circuits totalled together may very well surpass the same capacity an average Magus who had access to 300 circuits would have had! His maximum output at any one instant could have shamed the full capacity of a weak Servant! There hadn't been any known examples amongst the Grail Knowledge of this kind of potential in humanity since her own times, the Age of the Gods!

Think of the possibilities that would happen if she had access to this boy's circuits!

What's more, that boy was a Master, the 6th candidate. The command seal the boy was too stupid to think of covering on the back of his hand was obvious proof of that. Her analysis of the incredibly complex Grail System hiding beneath the temple yesterday had revealed enough to understand that there were still two unfulfilled seats amongst the Servants, and at least one of them was a Knight Class, meaning there was still either a Saber, an Archer or a Lancer up for the summoning, and if she was the gambling type, she would put everything on the uninitiated, oblivious teen being the one the Knight was being kept in reserve for.

This changed everything; a clueless Master without Servant was happily wandering about her territory without any knowledge of his impending role in the war, one who not only had almost unparalleled ability to conduct Prana in his circuits which would have any Magus in this modern day damn the magical secrecy and kidnap the boy from the streets if they learnt of it, but was also a dead cert for one of the Knight Class Servants.

Oh, she had plans for that teen, and his death would certainly put a stopper to those.

Kizuki simply looked at her once again with that cold, emotionless stare, before simply taking his suit coat off to hang up. He could tell Caster was up to something, but it didn't matter to him, she was free to do anything she wanted to. Since she obviously didn't want the teen dead, then he simply wouldn't get involved with the situation until she needed him.

However, for perhaps the second time in his life, Kuzuki felt a strange feeling inside. He paused, realising with some surprise that he wanted to face the teen, to match his own fists against that strange man, not in a simple spar, but in a battle where their existences were on the line. He felt for one second, perhaps he might find something if he fought that man, meaning perhaps. Yes, perhaps he may discover some part of himself if he fought him. Even if that battle were to end with his death…

"Soichirou-sama?"

A glance down lead him to see that Caster had abandoned the crystal sphere, her hand softly on his sleeve as she looked up at him with true concern in her eyes.

Concern for him.

Just like that, the idea was dismissed from his mind, forever. Perhaps it was true that he would find some part of himself in that battle, but he had already made his choice when he had first felt that feeling inside what he assumed to be his heart. That day he had met this woman before him, covered from head to toe in rain and blood, her existence fading before his eyes, a blood drenched dagger barely held in her hands, those eyes of hers filled with pain, anger and fear, her words as she begged him, a complete stranger for help.

He had decided there and then without any hesitation that he would do anything necessary to fulfil the needs of the person before him. For the first time in his life, he felt something inside him stir, and this woman was the source. He could never fulfil the debt he had to this woman, for making him feel *something* inside, and he would never do anything to make Caster look the same way again as she did that night.

"There is nothing wrong, Caster." Kuzuki said once more in that same complete monotone, before heading in the direction of the shougi door that separated the main room from the kitchen area, asking again in the same complete monotone "Have you eaten yet, Caster?"

"Ah!" Caster suddenly tried to dash forward, a slight blush across her beautiful features as she cut in front of Kuzuki, gesturing randomly towards the orb, turning the display of the orange haired teen off as she quickly interjected in an almost embarrassed tone "I-I would like to cook if it's alright…"

Kuzuki once again just fixed her with that ever present stare, before nodding slightly and returning to the main room to sit by the kotatsu, completely ignoring the existence of the crystal ball on its opposite end as he sat with stoic poise, simply waiting like a statue for whatever would come next.

As Caster went about the strangely normal household duty of being a housewife, completely content with doing such a simple duty as one of the few things she could do for her Master openly, The Witch of Betrayal once again went over all of her numerous machinations and plans within her head, planning ceaselessly on the methods she would use to win this war.

She would kill, she would deceive, she would sacrifice innocents, she would commit murder, any and every kind of atrocity she had to in order to win this war.

Afte all, she was Medea, The Witch of Betrayal, and even if she had never originally wanted this curse, it was now what she was best at.

All to win the Holy Grail War.

All for her wish, a wish she had never once had in her entire life, and never once imagined she would want when she came into this war.

To live a new life alongside the man she loved with all her heart.

* * *

(Next time on The Magus Guardian)

Night starts to fall on the Day of Fate, Ichigo has a surprise run in with a golden haired man with a strange curiosity in him, one who asks him questions without expecting answers, and leaves with the enigmatic advice to summon it soon, and make sure it was the *Saber*...

And to make things worse, blood is on the winds, and so Ichigo finds himself dashing headfirst towards the Fuyuki City high school, the origin of the scent, desperately hoping he is fast enough to save the life he can sense already fading...

* * *

**Well, thats that! I was hoping to portray a more humane side to Caster in this chapter. Sorry for Medea lovers, she is still going to be the big bitch of the story and a serious antagonist, but I just wanted to portray this small snapshot of her for the anime-exclusive fans who perhaps didn't quite realise what Caster was about.**

**Cya all next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yo readers, just a forwarning, this is not a complete chapter. However, I have a lot of uni work to do, so I wont be back to write for a while, as such I figured I should put what I have done thus far down. I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, but oh well, when I complete it i'll fix any issues then, so enjoy for now!**

**By the way, yes I do realise there is simalarities between Fate/Black Reflections initial meeting of these two and my version, couldn't be helped. Hopefully i've made them different enough that nobody complains. Gil will have a more interesting role in my story, he's found an interest in Ichigo, as thus may pop up from time to time to watch things play out, although not when Saber is looking XP.**

**Anyhow enjoy!**

* * *

In another part of the city, Ichigo was engaging in his main pastime, scowling hellishly at anything and everything in sight. The reason for his ire this time was actually pretty simple, and oddly enough a situation of his own doing.

He was hungry as all hell, and he had forgotten to restock his now empty cupboards of food.

Ever since he had started his re-training, he had found much to his annoyance that the usual sized portions of food he ate no longer cut it; it was like his body was burning through carbs at the speed of light, transferring what would normally be energy for his body into fuel for his soul.

Urahara had told him this would be a very likely side effect of his training, after all Ichigo normally had so much Reiatsu that his body was far more likely to give out before he hit any semblance of a limit. Now though, his body would have to address the sudden drain on a vital resource, and the easiest way was to refuel his soul in much the same way he would his body, by breaking down consumed food into the required energy form. The only difference was now his body was putting more emphasis into breaking the consumed objects even further down to its original components, i.e. Reishi.

He had scoffed at the claim at first, but just watching Yoruichi that one time somehow put away easily 50 bowls of food in one sitting despite her ridiculously lithe figure had made him a believer.

As such Ichigo, having finished typing up a few extra pages on his latest Essay, had gone to the fridge to prepare dinner, only to find empty shelves staring back at him. A few choice curse words later, and Ichigo found himself walking down the streets, kicking a stone along the way in annoyance.

Unlike earlier, he was now donning a long pure black trench coat to keep out the chilly air (clothing bought in homage to his erstwhile partner) (1). Fortunately, even if it was slightly cold there wasn't any sign of clouds in the air, meaning at least there would be the small mercy of no rain.

'Now if can find somewhere open at this time…' he complained internally, kicking the stone further ahead as he walked. It would have been easy to find a store at this time on the opposite side of the river, but his flat was firmly on the Miyama side of the bridge, not the more urbanized Shinto side. While it was usefully located close to the Ryuudouji temple, it made getting supplies a relative chore at times.

Heading in the direction of the small shopping district in the hopes of finding an open store, even a pizza parlour would be fine by now, Ichigo passed by the entrance to the empty park. However, he was surprised to see a person ahead of him, standing underneath a street lamp casually, hands tucked into pockets as the man staring up at the sky.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?"

Ichigo was a bit surprised at the sudden question, it was obviously addressed to him as they were the only two on the street, but he couldn't for the life of him recognise the guy.

He looked about the same age as Ichigo, maybe a tiny bit older but it was hard to tell. Really, quite a lot of his features were comparable to him, so much so the stranger may have been a distant relative of his.

He was about the same height, a rare trait to have as Ichigo knew he was incredibly tall compared to many of his oriental peers. Even their postures kind of matched, although the man was leaning against the lamppost, his posture spoke of a proud individual even in laxity. Then again, the man also had a slightly foreign look to his features, vibrant blonde hair framing an almost regal looking face, even if it was currently sporting a strangely knowing and arrogant smirk, as if the man knew something nobody else in the world did. The most surprising factor was his almost crimson eyes, a colour Ichigo had never seen before.

Something about the man set off warning bells in Ichigo's head. He wasn't sure what exactly it was that set them off, the man seemed to be as normal as any other stranger on the street, no fluctuations or additional strength in the reiatsu he could sense. But he was feeling edgy anyway just looking at the man, and Ichigo had learnt long ago to always trust his instincts.

The man seemed to completely ignore all of Ichigo's ruminations, not even having bothered to wait for his answer before saying "The moon and stars are shining brightly, not a single cloud in the sky to mar this sight…yes, tis a _promising_ night…"

Standing up straight now as he moved away from the lamppost, the stranger turned now to face Ichigo, that same smirk still in place as he regarded the former Shinigami for a moment, before giving a slight half bow, saying "My name is Gil, I would know your name."

Ichigo's scowl deepened slightly in confusion, the way this *Gil* spoke was strangely archaic and polite, his words ringing with an almost regal tone. Still, even if something about the stranger rubbed him the wrong way, Ichigo replied anyway in a rather blunt manner "Kurosaki Ichigo."

Gil's smirk seemed to grow slightly, nodding in consideration as he mulled it over, replying "Ichigo…_First Defender_? No, _One who Protects_…you have a strong name, you should be proud to bear it."

Ichigo's scowl faltered at hearing those words, having expected either the usual stupid Strawberry comment or nothing at all. "You know, you may be the first person to actually get my name, most people think my parents just had a bad sense of humour."

Gil seemed to find this immensely amusing, chuckling under his breath as he replied "Yes, it just shows how…_ignorant_…humanity has become in this day and age, my sympathies are yours, Ichigo."

The scowl once again slipped as he regarded the blonde haired man, he was finding it increasingly hard to feel animosity towards this man. Even though his instinct was still niggling him to be wary, the man's mannerisms, almost charisma, was very disarming. There was something…unique…about the foreigner's presence.

Gil looked like he was about to say something else, but he stopped, his head cocked slightly upwards and to the side, as if he was looking at something in the distance. The smirk seemed to return again in full force, Gil shaking his head slightly almost in regret as he spoke "As interesting as this little meeting was, it seems it shall have to be cut short, I have to be on my way."

Walking forward now, Gil moved as to walk by Ichigo, his scarlet eyes watching Ichigo's own as he smirked, saying "I look forward to our next meeting, Kurosaki Ichigo. It has been a long time since I met somebody as…interesting as you."

As he passed Ichigo by, Gil made one last, very strange remark.

"Be certain that you summon the _Saber_, I doubt any other would suit as your partner."

Before Ichigo could make any remark, Gil had passed him by, heading in the opposite direction, not looking back as he raised one hand and made a slight gesture over his shoulder, as if in farewell as he turned the corner, vanishing from sight.

'Huh?' Ichigo wondered in confusion at those last words, trying to figure out just what they meant. One word in particular stood out, another word spoken not in Japanese, but in English.

Saber…

'What the hell was that all about?'

* * *

Twenty minutes later, and one visit to the fortunately still open store (apparently they worked late hours on Thursdays, who would have known?) and Ichigo was making his way back to his apartment, laden with multiple bags of groceries.

At least that was until he sensed a sudden plummet in Reiatsu.

Almost instinctually, Ichigo dropped the bags, the heavy bags spilling their contents all over the street. However this was instantly ignored by Ichigo as unimportant as he snapped his eyes shut, throwing his head back as he forced his senses outwards across the night sky. All around him, invisible to the eyes of any person who didn't possess high levels of reiatsu, thousands of what looked like long pieces of white tape materialised, twisting in infinitely looping patterns as their ends reached towards Ichigo.

His ability to summon and control Reiraku, an incredibly high level technique he had somehow summoned and mastered on his first attempt, barely weeks after becoming a Shinigami. Even though his ability to detect unfamiliar Reiatsu still wasn't good enough to locate targets instantly on the go, by using this ability he could bypass that weakness entirely. It was the by far more complicated method, but it worked out best for him due to his innate talent for it.

Without opening his eyes, Ichigo's hand shot out and closed around a single thread amidst the thousands. While there was a small amount of…strange feeling Reiraku, there was only one amidst these countless thousands that he could sense the pain and agony that would dictate a reason for the sudden loss in reiatsu. (2)

"Shit!" Ichigo cursed as his eyes snapped open. He had the location, it wasn't too far away, but whoever had taken the injury was in a very bad state, their reiatsu almost petering out already barely moments after he had sensed the drop.

Without delay, Ichigo shot forward, aiming straight down the street he had come from, legs pumping furiously as he left his former shopping in the middle of the street. Even as he dashed, he summoned up what little he could of his Reiatsu on the run, forcing it out of his body to increase his speed. If there had been a person with a stopwatch nearby, there was no doubt there would have been serious competition for an Olympic athlete from the teen with the speeds he was hitting as he practically flew down the streets.

Still he cursed under his breath, his heart pumping furiously to try and cope with him forcing his human body beyond its own self-imposed limit. This still wasn't fast enough!

Whoever this person was, they were dying!

He couldn't tell what had happened, maybe a car accident, maybe something more sinister but that wasn't going to stop him from breaking a land-speed record to reach this person. If he could make it on time, he could save them. Even if the injury was critical, he had an advantage no other human could ever hope to have.

He would just have to pray nobody was around that could detect him. Even using his reiatsu in this method to augment his body was already risky enough; this was probably going to call a hungry hollow or two. At least they would be chasing him, there was no other significantly strong soul in Fuyuki City to draw their attention and one or two low level hollows wasn't outside of his limited abilities to purify.

The streets literally flew past him in a blur, his lungs drawing desperate breaths as he saw the location he had tracked the injured Reiraku to.

'A High School?!'

He had expected a road accident which was after all the most likely situation, what the heck could have happened to leave a student/teacher in mortal peril?

Didn't matter, and Ichigo didn't even slow as he ran up the hill towards the high iron gates into the school. Without a moment's hesitation, Ichigo flooded his body with as much reiatsu as he could summon at once and leapt upwards, clearing the two metre high gate with another metre to spare.

As he landed, he tumbled to the ground, legs unable to take the sharp impact of a three metre drop while still moving forward at such speed. With barely a seconds cursing, he sprung back up to his feet, ignoring the sharp pain in his right leg.

'Probably cracked something, I'll check it out later.'

Now he was this close, he could finally get a lock on the faint Reiatsu signature nearby, there was only one in the entire building. He could also smell blood, a lot of it.

'Wait, something's wrong…'

As Ichigo started towards the main building, he saw one of the nearby windows on the first floor had been smashed in. As he vaulted in (hissing slightly in pain as he landed on the bad leg), he saw the nearby stairwell. He headed straight for it, going up to the third floor where he pinned the reiatsu signature at…

A reiatsu signature that had somehow stabilized and was no longer at deaths door…

"What the hell…?" Ichigo cursed under his breath, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. As he walked in the general direction of the now stable signature, a silhouette visible in that direction down the hallway, the stink of freshly spilled blood grew to incredible strength.

As he finally approached, he could finally see the mess in its entirety.

Sprawled against one of the walls in the corridor was a boy wearing a high school uniform, obviously a student. He seemed to be unconscious, his breathing hitched in pain. All around him, all over his uniform was covered in blood. Far too much blood for the boy to be alive. What was even more disturbing was the hole in his uniform, straight over where his heart should have been.

Ichigo closed the gap in an instance, dropping to his knees as he reached the boy. He didn't bother activating the Healing Kido he had been preparing mentally; the teen was obviously stable, even if in some pain.

And that's what made no sense, all of the blood was obviously from the hole in the boys uniform, meaning his heart had been pierced judging from the extreme amount, yet the teen was alive. Even as Ichigo lightly pulled back the teens blazer to better see the wounded area, he could see from under the student's shirt that there was fresh skin, even if red and inflamed, in the hole in his shirt.

Scowling, Ichigo tried to figure out how exactly this teen was still alive. Turning to his senses, he realised the teen had an above average reiatsu, even if it was still weak from whatever had just happened. It was entirely human though, it didn't have any of the off tones of Hollow or Shinigami reiatsu.

"Could he be some kind of Quincy then?" Ichigo muttered to himself, his eyes looking to the teen's wrist. Ishida had always had some kind of pendant hanging from his wrist to channel his powers into a useable form. However, the teen had nothing of the sort, other than a strangely intricate tattoo/scar on the back of his hand.

Ichigo couldn't help but glance at the scar on the back of his own hand, the mark of the Substitute Shinigami badge that had materialised when he had managed to reawaken his powers.

'No he can't be the same, his reiatsu isn't even slightly like a Shinigami's, besides I've never seen anything remotely alike that symbol.'

Suddenly, the teen groaned loudly, breaking Ichigo's musing. As he turned to the teen, he watched as golden brown eyes fixed blearily on his own.

* * *

(P.O.V change)

"Ah…guh."

Shirou groaned in pain as he woke up. His whole body was in agony, every time he felt his heartbeat, a sharp pain stabbed at his head like a knife.

"What…happened?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me."

Shirou could barely even hear half of the words, spoken in a rough voice with a slight undercurrent of concern. He turned his head in the direction of the voice, and just stared blankly at the owner.

He was kneeling beside him, brown eyes watching him almost warily yet not quite concealing the concern hidden deep within, a deep scowl marring his features. Shirou couldn't help his eyes being drawn to the absurdly orange colour of his hair. The…man? The man looked to be about twenty, he couldn't quite tell with the scowl marring the man's features. He was wearing a long, pure black trench coat which served to make his orange mop stand out even more.

Shirou just kept on staring blankly for a few seconds, doing nothing. The man seemed to…growl? Growl slightly, muttering something about *in shock* under his breath.

The man then proceeded to pull out a cell phone.

"…n…no…" Shirou managed to struggle out, reaching to stop the man. He wasn't quite certain why, but something niggling in his head told him that it would be bad if he made the phone call.

The man seemed to scowl even deeper, as if Shirou's reaction had confirmed something. However, it served its purpose and the man put the cell phone away. The man's scowl seemed to somehow deepen even further, watching Shirou warily.

Shirou suddenly stood up, swaying slightly as his vision swam from the sudden movement. The man rose as well, a hand reaching out and gripping under his own arm firmly to support him.

"So, you gonna tell me why you were just lying in a pool of blood or what?"

Shirou winced at hearing those words, his hand going towards his chest. He pulled his hand away and looked down; indeed seeing his hand was covered in blood.

"Damn, I really…" 'had my chest pierced?'

The man beside him gave another one of those growls, a hand reaching up to run through his hair in irritation. Obviously he wasn't the patient sort, but he seemed to calm down pretty fast as he muttered something about shock again.

Taking a different line of questioning the man asked "Okay, how about your name then?"

"Emiya…Shirou." He replied slowly, staring at all of the blood that was plastered over the corridor. He started towards the classroom in an almost mechanical fashion.

"Okay Emiya-san, my name's Kurosaki Ichigo." The man answered in an almost forced tone, obviously not used to having to talk in this calm, polite way.

"Shirou…" the teen replied absent mindedly as he found what he was after, a nearby bucket and mop, water still left within from whomever cleaned up having forgotten to empty it.

"Okay Shiro, I'm fine with just Ichigo as well." (3) Ichigo replied, trying to keep patient as he mentally went over the best way to talk with patients in shock.

Shirou frowned slightly at the mispronunciation, but ignored it in favour of the mop.

* * *

**Welp, like I said, incomplete. When I complete it, i'll repost Chapter 3 so you all know, until I complete the vast truckloads of Uni work, Au Revoir! Review and follow if you enjoyed, for as we all know, we fickle FF Authors live off reviews, the more we get, the more we are enticed to write XP (also helps with fixing plot issues)**

**(1) Yeah, kinda odd, but necessary for a minor plot point, namely that I am not going to have Saber wearing that god awful yellow raincoat in my story, she can borrow Ichigo's coat for late night travels.**

**(2) To clarify, Ichigo cannot sense Servants locations or powers, but he will be able to detect relevant proximity if in close range, and can identify them once he knows the Servant in question as their Reiraku holds a particular pattern. For now, he's completely unaware thats what he's sensing.**

**(3) On-going joke, dunno if you noticed in the anime, but Saber consistently mispronounced Shirou's name (this is also consistent in the V/N). While it's not quite as bad as I've made it out to be, for both Ichigo and Saber, they will consistently use the name "Shiro" for him instead of "Shirou". I won't add this in later chapters mind as it's a nightmare for grammar correction, I'm just hoping you guys remember that Ichigo and Saber will mispronounce the name consistently.**


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